Topic: Art & National Identity

National identity has become a hot topic in art history.  This seminar will examine theories of
national identity formation and nationalism and how they relate to art.  The semester will be
divided into roughly four sections: 1) A discussion of key theoretical texts by Renan, Gellner,
Kedourie, Breuilly, Kohn, Bhabha, among others, which will be read by the entire seminar.  2)
Reports on, and discussions of additional key tests (Mosse, Greenfield).  Each student will be
assigned to a group, which will read and lead discussion on one of these texts.  3) Oral critiques
of articles in a forthcoming book on Art and National Identity, co-edited by Facos.  4) Individual
Research reports.

The theoretical readings are intentionally broad with the intention of providing relevant
background knowledge for whatever topic students chose to work on.  There are no temporal or
geographical boundaries.  Research reports will be 15-25 pages long, and will be presented in a
condensed version of 20 minutes (approximately 8 double-spaced pages), tailored in the style of a
professional conference paper.